@article{fdi:010081424,
  title = {{MODIS} does not capture the spatial heterogeneity of snow cover induced by solar radiation},
  author = {{B}ouamri, {H}. and {K}innard, {C}. and {B}oudhar, {A}. and {G}ascoin, {S}. and {H}anich, {L}. and {C}hehbouni, {A}bdelghani},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{E}stimating snowmelt in semi-arid mountain ranges is an important but challenging task, due to the large spatial variability of the snow cover and scarcity of field observations. {A}dding solar radiation as snowmelt predictor within empirical snow models is often done to account for topographically induced variations in melt rates. {T}his study examines the added value of including different treatments of solar radiation within empirical snowmelt models and benchmarks their performance against {MODIS} snow cover area ({SCA}) maps over the 2003-2016 period. {T}hree spatially distributed, enhanced temperature index models that, respectively, include the potential clear-sky direct radiation, the incoming solar radiation and net solar radiation were compared with a classical temperature-index ({TI}) model to simulate snowmelt, {SWE} and {SCA} within the {R}heraya basin in the {M}oroccan {H}igh {A}tlas {R}ange. {E}nhanced models, particularly that which includes net solar radiation, were found to better explain the observed {SCA} variability compared to the {TI} model. {H}owever, differences in model performance in simulating basin wide {SWE} and {SCA} were small. {T}his occurs because topographically induced variations in melt rates simulated by the enhanced models tend to average out, a situation favored by the rather uniform distribution of slope aspects in the basin. {W}hile the enhanced models simulated more heterogeneous snow cover conditions, aggregating the simulated {SCA} from the 100 m model resolution towards the {MODIS} resolution (500 m) suppresses key spatial variability related to solar radiation, which attenuates the differences between the {TI} and the radiative models. {O}ur findings call for caution when using {MODIS} for calibration and validation of spatially distributed snow models.},
  keywords = {snow water equivalent ; snow cover ; temperature index model ; solar radiation ; snowmelt ; moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer ; snow spatial heterogeneity ; {M}oroccan {A}tlas ; {MAROC} ; {ATLAS} ; {ZONE} {SEMIARIDE}},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{F}rontiers in {E}arth {S}cience},
  volume = {9},
  numero = {},
  pages = {640250 [19 p.]},
  year = {2021},
  DOI = {10.3389/feart.2021.640250},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010081424},
}